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Jackie’s Warrior Now 4-For-4 After Rollicking Champagne Victory

Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior kept an unblemished record intact, establishing an early lead while shaking off a challenge from Reinvestment Risk to win Saturday's 149th running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Champagne going one mile for juveniles over the main track at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 2-year-old son of Maclean's Music improved to a perfect 4-for-4, including two Grade 1 triumphs along with the Runhappy Hopeful on September 7 at Saratoga. He earned an automatic entry into the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 6 at Keeneland from his victory in the Champagne, which is a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” event.

Within a few strides out of the gate, Jackie's Warrior was able to secure his usual frontrunning position under jockey Joel Rosario and recorded the opening quarter-mile in 23.12 seconds over the fast main track with Hopeful runner-up Reinvestment Risk in second and stablemate Midnight Bourbon another path to the outside in third.

Around the turn, through a half-mile in 46.54, jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. launched his bid aboard Reinvestment Risk, and came close to being on even terms with Jackie's Warrior. Just outside the quarter-pole, Rosario nudged his charge a couple of times and that was all it took to get Jackie's Warrior to extend his advantage.

Jackie's Warrior opened up by three lengths in the stretch and was geared down just past the sixteenth pole, crossing the wire a 5 1/2-length winner in a final time of 1:35.42. Reinvestment Risk finished 8 ¾ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Midnight Bourbon.

Civil War, Run Casper Run, and Ambivalent rounded out the order of finish.

“He's a beautiful horse; a big horse, and it looks like everything he does is easy for him,” Rosario said. “I was very confident that he could get the mile. I felt confident the whole way. He just enjoyed what he was doing.”

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Jackie's Warrior, who returned $3.70 for a $2 win bet as the favorite, banked $137,500 in victory which enhanced his lifetime earnings to $402,564.

Prior to his pair of Grade 1 scores, he was a 2 1/2-length winner on debut on June 19 at Churchill Downs before taking the Grade 2 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite on August 7 by three lengths.

“He had an easy half-mile and I'm surprised he came home that quick. He's very impressive,” said Asmussen's Belmont Park-based assistant Toby Sheets. “He's a class act and does everything correct. The one-turn mile certainly didn't seem to bother him.”

The Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile will be Jackie's Warrior first two-turn engagement, which Rosario said should be no problem for the unbeaten juvenile.

“I tried to get him away from there quickly and get position. I think the further he goes the better. He seemed to do it very easy today and I was very confident in him,” Rosario said. “I wanted to be a little out in front, so he had confidence, and it looked like he liked that. I let him do whatever he wanted to do. He breaks two lengths in front of everyone and not all horses can do that. He's amazing.”

Bred in Kentucky by J & J Stables, Jackie's Warrior is out of the A.P. Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl. He was purchased for $95,000 from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Belmont Park with a 10-race card highlighted by the 130th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Futurity, a six-furlong turf sprint offering a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on November 6 at Keeneland. It is one of two turf stakes for juveniles on the 10-race card, with the Grade 3, $100,000 Matron for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs also on the docket. First post is 12:50 p.m.

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Jackie’s Warrior Dominates in the Champagne

JACKIE’S WARRIOR (c, 2, Maclean’s Music-Unicorn Girl, by A. P. Five Hundred) kept his perfect record in tact with another dominant performance in Belmont’s GI Champagne S., a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” event. Following his debut win at Churchill with a victory in the GII Saratoga Special S., he captured Saratoga’s GI Runhappy Hopeful S. last time Sept. 7. Hammered down to 4-5 favoritism to repeat her, Jackie’s Warrior broke on top and cruised through opening splits of :23.12 and :46.54 with ‘TDN Rising Star’ Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) in tow. Bearing out a bit to be two wide turning for home, the $95,000 KEESEP buy was kept steady by pilot Joel Rosario and took flight for the wire, sailing clear with ease under a motionless Rosario to win by daylight. Reinvestment Risk was best of the rest in second. The final time for the mile was 1:35.42. Lifetime Record: 4-4-0-0.

O-J. Kirk & Judy Robison; B-J&J Stables (KY); T-Steve Asmussen.

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Jackie’s Warrior Puts His Undefeated Record On The Line In Champagne

J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior is a standout in the juvenile division with an unblemished record and will put his perfect resume on the line in Saturday's 148th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne going a one-turn mile at Belmont Park for 2-year-old colts.

The Champagne is one of four Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” qualifying events slated for Saturday's action-packed 11-race program and offers an automatic entry towards the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland. Other “Win And You're In” events scheduled for Saturday include the Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup for older horses going 1 ¼ miles on the main track [Classic]; the Grade 1, $250,000 Frizette for juvenile fillies going one mile on the main track [Juvenile Fillies]; and the Grade 1, $250,000 Flower Bowl Invitational for fillies and mares going 1 ¼ miles over the inner turf [Filly and Mare Turf]. Also featured on the card is the Grade 2, $150,000 Sands Point for sophomore fillies going one mile over the Widener turf.

Inaugurated in 1867, the Champagne has been a prominent event for young horses having seen a handful of Kentucky Derby winners score in the race during their 2-year-old season dating all the way back to Azra in 1891. Riva Ridge [1971], Foolish Pleasure [1974], Spectacular Bid [1978] as well as Triple Crown winners Count Fleet [1942] and Seattle Slew [1976] won the Champagne before becoming household names. The great Secretariat won the 1972 Champagne but was disqualified for interference with Stop the Music, who was subsequently awarded the victory. The Champagne has also been used as a steppingstone to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with horses like Fly So Free [1990], Timber Country [1994], War Pass [2007], Uncle Mo [2010] and Shanghai Bobby [2012] notching the Champagne-Breeders' Cup Juvenile double.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Jackie's Warrior arrives at the Champagne off a 2 ¼-length victory in the Grade 1 Runhappy Hopeful on Sept. 7 at Saratoga, where he registered a 95 Beyer Speed Figure – the highest number recorded by a 2-year-old this year. In his prior effort, the bay son of Maclean's Music won his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 7 at the Spa by three lengths after displaying stalking tactics in his debut at Churchill Downs, which he won by 2 ½ lengths.

Jackie's Warrior has been getting acclimated to Belmont Park, recently breezing a half-mile in 50.54 over the Belmont training track on Oct. 4.

“He handles everything well,” said Asmussen's Belmont Park-based assistant trainer Toby Sheets. “Just like his races are, that's how he is. He's done everything very professionally and he's very straightforward. I don't see the mile being an issue at all.”

Jockey Joel Rosario, who guided Practical Joke to a 2016 Champagne win, will return to the saddle from post 4.

Asmussen also will be represented by Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon, who was a recent second in the Grade 3 Iroquois on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs going a one-turn mile.

“He came in on Saturday, had a little [three-furlong] blowout [in 39.22 seconds] here on Tuesday,” Sheets said. “He's another well-built, big horse. He's figuring it out a little bit, but he's been doing really well.”

The well-bred Midnight Bourbon is the fourth offspring out of the Malibu Moon mare Catch the Moon, whose other progeny are Grade 1-winner Girvin and graded stakes winners Pirate's Punch and Cocked and Loaded.

“Let's hope that trend continues,” Sheets said.

Midnight Bourbon will be ridden by Jose Ortiz from post 6.

Hopeful runner-up Reinvestment Risk will try and turn the tables on Jackie's Warrior while attempting to give trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables their third Champagne victory.

The son of freshman sire Upstart dazzled in his career debut with a 7 ¾-length victory at the Spa over next-out winner Olympiad. He recorded a 90 Beyer in his debut, a figure which he replicated in his runner-up finish to Jackie's Warrior in the Hopeful.

“He's doing super. I'm looking forward to getting him out another furlong. He'll have no problem with more distance,” Brown said.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. has been the pilot in both of the bay colt's lifetime starts and will return to the saddle from post 5.

Reddam Racing's Ambivalent is the lone maiden in the field but boasts stakes experience on the west coast for trainer Doug O'Neill.

The dark bay son of leading second-crop sire Constitution was recently third beaten a length over the grass in the one-mile Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Sept. 7.

Following a runner-up effort on debut on June 21 at Santa Anita, Ambivalent was beaten 1 ¼ lengths before being disqualified from third to fourth in the Grade 2 Best Pal on Aug. 8 at Del Mar.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez has the mount from post 1.

Rounding out the field are Run Casper Run [post 2, Jose Lezcano] and Civil War [post 3, Kendrick Carmouche].

The Champagne is slated as Race 4 on Saturday's 11-race program, which offers a first post of 12:20 p.m. Eastern. America's Day at the Races will present daily television coverage of the 27-day fall meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete America's Day at the Races broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Complexity Defeats Code Of Honor In Kelso Handicap

Winning his first graded stakes since taking the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in 2018, Klaravich Stables' Complexity was a prompt favorite in Saturday's G2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., winning the one-mile contest by 2 1/4 lengths over Code of Honor as the 4-5 favorite in a four-horse field. Stan the Man finished third, with Endorsed fourth.

Complexity, a 4-year-old colt by Maclean's Music bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, was timed in 1:33.82 on a fast track, carrying 119 pounds, five fewer than Code of Honor. He is trained by Chad Brown and was ridden to victory by Jose Ortiz.

He paid $3.80 as the favorite.

Complexity broke on top in the one-turn mile but Ortiz allowed Endorsed to set the early pace, going the opening quarter mile in :23.30 and the half in :46.61. Complexity moved up alongside Endorsed approaching the quarter pole, six furlongs timed in 1:10.05, easily putting away that rival and gearing up for the expected stretch run of Code of Honor.

Last year's G1 Travers winner, Code of Honor, trailed the field early under Javier Castellano, moved up to make a three-wide bid on the turn, but never could catch Complexity, who widened his advantage in the final sixteenth of a mile.

Complexity won his first two starts as a 2-year-old, a maiden race at Saratoga and the G1 Champagne at Belmont, then finished 10th behind Game Winner in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. He returned the following June, finishing last of 11 runners in the G1 Woody Stephens, then went to the sidelines again until late November, winning an allowance race/optional claimer at Aqueduct.

Following a fourth-place finish last Dec. 28 in the G1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita, Complexity was given more time off, coming back to win an allowance/optional claiming race at Belmont Park July 2. then was nipped at the wire by Win WIn Win in the G1 Forego at Saratoga in his most recent start.

Complexity's record now stands at five wins and one second from nine starts.

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